Through the Bible – Day 264

₁When the son of David was king in Jerusalem, he was known to be very wise, and he said:

₁₂I said these things when I lived in Jerusalem as king of Israel. ₁₃With all my wisdom I tried to understand everything that happens here on earth. And God has made this so hard for us humans to do. ₁₄I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.

₁₆I said to myself, “You are by far the wisest person who has ever lived in Jerusalem. You are eager to learn, and you have learnt a lot.” ₁₇Then I decided to find out all I could about wisdom and foolishness. Soon I realized that this too was as senseless as chasing the wind.

₁I said to myself, “Have fun and enjoy yourself!” But this didn't make sense. ₂Laughing and having fun is mad. What good does it do? ₃I wanted to find out what was best for us during the short time we have on this earth. So I decided to make myself happy with wine and find out what it means to be foolish, without really being foolish myself.

₄I did some great things. I built houses and planted vineyards. ₅I had flower gardens and orchards full of fruit trees. ₆And I had pools where I could get water for the trees. ₇I owned slaves, and their sons and daughters became my slaves. I had more sheep and goats than anyone who had ever lived in Jerusalem. ₈Foreign rulers brought me silver, gold, and precious treasures. Men and women sang for me, and I had many wives who gave me great pleasure.

₉I was the most famous person who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and I was very wise. ₁₀I got whatever I wanted and did whatever made me happy. But most of all, I enjoyed my work. ₁₁Then I thought about everything I had done, including the hard work, and it was simply chasing the wind. Nothing on earth is worth the trouble.

₁₂I asked myself, “What can the next king do that I haven't done?” Then I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and stupidity. ₁₃And I discovered that wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. ₁₄Wisdom is like having two good eyes; foolishness leaves you in the dark. But wise or foolish, we all end up the same.

₁₅Finally, I said to myself, “Being wise got me nowhere! The same thing will happen to me that happens to fools. Nothing makes sense. ₁₆Wise or foolish, we all die and are soon forgotten.” ₁₇This made me hate life. Everything we do is painful; it's just as senseless as chasing the wind.

₁₈Suddenly I realized that others would some day get everything I had worked so hard for, then I started hating it all. ₁₉Who knows if those people will be sensible or stupid? Either way, they will own everything I have earned by hard work and wisdom. It doesn't make sense.

₂₀I thought about all my hard work, and I felt depressed. ₂₁When we use our wisdom, knowledge, and skill to get what we own, why do we have to leave it to someone who didn't work for it? This is senseless and wrong. ₂₂What do we really gain from all our hard work? ₂₃Our bodies ache during the day, and work is torture. Then at night our thoughts are troubled. It just doesn't make sense.

₂₄The best thing we can do is to enjoy eating, drinking, and working. I believe these are God's gifts to us, ₂₅and no one enjoys eating and living more than I do. ₂₆If we please God, he will make us wise, understanding, and happy. But if we sin, God will make us struggle for a living, then he will give all we own to someone who pleases him. This makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

₉What do we gain by all our hard work? ₁₀I have seen what difficult things God demands of us. ₁₁God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. ₁₂I know the best thing we can do is always to enjoy life, ₁₃because God's gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do. ₁₄Everything God has done will last for ever; nothing he does can ever be changed. God has done all this, so that we will worship him.

₁₆Everywhere on earth I saw violence and injustice instead of fairness and justice. ₁₇So I told myself that God has set a time and a place for everything. He will judge everyone, both the wicked and the good. ₁₈I know that God is testing us to show us that we are merely animals. ₁₉Like animals we breathe and die, and we are no better off than they are. It just doesn't make sense. ₂₀All living creatures go to the same place. We are made from earth, and we return to the earth. ₂₁Who really knows if our spirits go up and the spirits of animals go down into the earth? ₂₂We were meant to enjoy our work, and that's the best thing we can do. We can never know the future.

₁I looked again and saw people being ill-treated everywhere on earth. They were crying, but no one was there to offer comfort, and those who ill-treated them were powerful. ₂I said to myself, “The dead are better off than the living. ₃But those who have never been born are better off than anyone else, because they have never seen the terrible things that happen on this earth.”

₄Then I realized that we work and do wonderful things just because we are jealous of others. This makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

₇Once again I saw that nothing on earth makes sense. ₈For example, some people don't have friends or family. But they are never satisfied with what they own, and they never stop working to get more. They should ask themselves, “Why am I always working to have more? Who will get what I leave behind?” What a senseless and miserable life!

₉You are better off having a friend than being all alone, because then you will get more enjoyment out of what you earn. ₁₀If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble. ₁₁If you sleep alone, you won't have anyone to keep you warm on a cold night. ₁₂Someone might be able to beat up one of you, but not both of you. As the saying goes, “A rope made from three strands of cord is hard to break.”

₁₃You may be poor and young. But if you are wise, you are better off than a foolish old king who won't listen to advice. ₁₄Even if you were not born into the royal family and have been a prisoner and poor, you can still be king. ₁₅I once saw everyone in the world follow a young leader who came to power after the king was gone. ₁₆His followers could not even be counted. But years from now, no one will praise him—this makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

₂₁Does the Law disagree with God's promises? No, it doesn't! If any law could give life to us, we could become acceptable to God by obeying that law. ₂₂But the Scriptures say that sin controls everyone, so that God's promises will be for anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ.

₂₃The Law controlled us and kept us under its power until the time came when we would have faith. ₂₄In fact, the Law was our teacher. It was supposed to teach us until we had faith and were acceptable to God. ₂₅But once a person has learnt to have faith, there is no more need to have the Law as a teacher.

₂₆All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. ₂₇And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. ₂₈Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. ₂₉So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham's family, and you will be given what God has promised.

₁Children who are under age are no better off than slaves, even though everything their parents own will some day be theirs. ₂This is because children are placed in the care of guardians and teachers until the time their parents have set. ₃That is how it was with us. We were like children ruled by the powers of this world.

₄But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, ₅so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God's children. ₆Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. ₇You are no longer slaves. You are God's children, and you will be given what he has promised.

₈Before you knew God, you were slaves of gods that are not real. ₉But now you know God, or better still, God knows you. How can you turn back and become the slaves of those weak and pitiful powers? ₁₀You even celebrate certain days, months, seasons, and years. ₁₁I am afraid I have wasted my time working with you.

₁₂My friends, I beg you to be like me, just as I once tried to be like you. Did you ill-treat me ₁₃when I first preached to you? No you didn't, even though you knew I had come there because I was sick. ₁₄My illness must have caused you some trouble, but you didn't hate me or turn me away because of it. You welcomed me as though I were one of God's angels or even Christ Jesus himself. ₁₅Where is that good feeling now? I am sure that if it had been possible, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. ₁₆Am I now your enemy, just because I told you the truth?

₁₇Those people may be paying you a lot of attention, but it isn't for your good. They only want to keep you away from me, so you will pay them a lot of attention. ₁₈It is always good to give your attention to something worthwhile, even when I am not with you. ₁₉My children, I am in terrible pain until Christ may be seen living in you. ₂₀I wish I were with you now. Then I would not have to talk this way. You really have me puzzled.